There is one Internet marketing strategy that I think is more important than any other. It's the follow-up.
In this article I will explain exactly how to get the most out of your marketing with several specific kinds of follow up strategies. I will breakdown the importance of building a list and how to use it to get a maximum return on investment. After reading this article, you'd have to be brain dead not to get at least one profit generating idea.
First, if you don't capture their information, you can't follow up. The money is in the list. There are several ways to build a list, but it all comes down to one thing: exchange. In other words, you have to give a compelling reason for a customer to give you personal information. They have to get something in return. If you're in a hot niche, the reason might be just so they can "stay current". If you're in a very competitive niche, you might have to do it with an all out bribe. Give something away that they cannot resist, and you'll have people giving you permission to email them.
With that, let's look at the psychology of the follow-up briefly. One of the most important reasons people buy is because of timing. Here's an example: your prospect's boss really jumped on his case that day. He just got home and he's still seeing red because of his boss. He opens his email and finds a message on "how to make money on the Internet so you can quick your day job!". Perfect timing.
But what if that didn't happen? Let's say he found your website last week when he was only mildly annoyed. And you didn't follow up. You probably lost a sell.
Other ways you lose sells by not following up: bad timing. Your prospect wants to buy but his wife is nagging him telling him to cut the lawn. He puts off buying, thinking he'll come back to it later. He never does. But how convenient would it have been to remind him?
So here's the first big secret. If you do nothing else but send out the same message to your prospect again, you'll make more sales! All due to timing. So if you have nothing to say on a follow up, just write a brief paragraph saying, "Hey, just in case you didn't get a chance to read this last time, here it is again..."
What other ways should you follow up? One of my favorites is to follow up tying your message to the news. Is there a way you can relate your message to something going on that people are talking about around the water cooler? You can also follow up with more educational information to help your customer make a purchasing decision, with more gifts or simply to ask them some questions.
There is one group of people you should make a very specific plan to follow up on: Your past customers. It's simple. These are people who at one point trusted you enough to give you money. And here's something else: No matter what you sell, there is always something complimentary to it that a percentage of your customers will also purchase if given the right reasons. This means you need to be following up with your customers so you can sell more things to them. Otherwise, if you don't they will go and buy from someone else. You don't want that do you?
So in conclusion, you must make following up deliberate and systematic if you really want to get the most out of your marketing. It is where the most chance for profit windfall is in Internet marketing.

Michael Ullman is the President of Analogy Marketing( http://www.ImproveYourInternetMarketing.com), a leading NY-based Internet Marketing firm. Mr. Ullman is also a Google Certified Adwords Professional, has taught at American University, and lectured at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC